Jump-start your morning

Many people think skipping breakfast will help them control weight, but nutritional studies show just the opposite.

The National Weight Control Registry surveys hundreds of people who have lost more than 30 pounds and kept it off for more than a year. A whopping 78 percent of them say they eat breakfast every day. Only 4 percent say they never eat breakfast.

"When people skip breakfast, they feel like they can eat more at night, because they've 'saved' all those calories," said Sara Oldroyd, a nutrition agent for Utah State University Extension.

And often the foods they eat at night — maybe pizza, cookies, chips, soda and ice cream — pack on a lot more empty calories than a healthy breakfast of something like whole-grain cereal and milk, or eggs and orange juice.

A morning meal gets your mind up and running, said Oldroyd. "This is true for both children and adults. Glucose, which is what our body makes from food for energy, is the best energy source for the brain."

Yet more and more Americans are skipping breakfast, especially 11- to 18-year-olds, according to Dr. Julie Miller Jones, a professor of nutrition at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn. At a meeting of food writers in San Antonio last spring, Jones cited research for eating that morning meal:

Breakfast skippers are 4.5 times more likely to be overweight. They tend to have a greater overall caloric intake over a 24-hour period.

Generally, breakfast skippers have poor or inadequate diets, snack more and omit other meals.

In a Japan Collaborative Cohort Study for Evaluation of Cancer, it was found that cutting breakfast is associated with increased deaths from heart disease.

Eating breakfast tends to improve well-being, attention and memory; and decreases depression, physical complaints and fatigue.

In 22 studies of children, it was found that breakfast may improve cognitive function related to memory and improved math and reading scores.

Kids who ate breakfast had a positive attitude toward school, were less likely to be tardy or miss school and created fewer discipline problems.

In a study of older adults from 60 to 79, those who ate breakfast daily scored higher on a National Adult Reading Test.

Breakfast helps control blood sugar throughout the day.

Breakfast can be a way to get more fruits into your diet, said Jones. As the national scientific adviser to the California Raisin Marketing Board, she added that raisins are an easy, cost effective way to do that.

Raisins add fiber and potassium, and they make whole-grain breads and cereals more tasty, she said.